Beyond the Canon: 10 All-Time Jazz Favorites

People interested in learning more about jazz will often turn to lists of the 10 or 50 best albums. But these lists aren't necessarily the best place to start. As often as not, recordings that make the canon are in there for reasons of historical importance or artistic achievement, as opposed to standards such as listenability or immediacy. For example, Coltrane's A Love Supreme deservedly always clocks in at or near the top, yet it's an intense listen, which makes it less than ideal as a starting place. With that in mind, here's a list of ten albums that all embody the jazz verities and that are accessible without being remotely simplistic. Note: I include artists that are always in the canon, like Miles and Mingus, but suggest titles from them that are excellent yet which often get overlooked. Oh, and I've excluded jazz vocal albums, which can be most accessible of all. Go to archives and you'll see where I covered that a few months ago.

1. Randy Weston, The Spirits of Our Ancestors
A truly epic recording, originally issued as a two CD set, which is why I am always amazed how consistent it is, with every track a keeper. With the help of great arrangements from the trombonist Melba Liston and solos from masters such as tenorist Billy Harper, Weston succeeds in showing how the same spirit animates sounds that reach from Northern Africa to Brooklyn. If that makes it sound like it's "educational," fear not. Simply a great, engaging listening experience.

2. Michel Petrucciani and Stephan Grappelli, Flamingo
This collection of standards is one of my absolute favorite jazz recordings, and for a very simple reason. It sings. You know how some improvisations sound labored, like the musician is working their way through the changes, just praying that some inspiration will hit them like a freak lightening strike? Not the case here. Pianist Petrucianni and violinist Grappelli are master players who are each at the top of their game. Pure joy.

3. Joe Lovano, From the Soul
Petrucciani also plays on this. Do I detect a trend? This date is led by Joe Lovano, one of the very best tenor players and jazz musicians of the last 30 years, period. The record is a nice mix of post-bop styles, along with the lovely ballad, Portrait of Jenny. Overall, the whole set has an aura of grace and effortless invention. Sometimes you achieve that in the studio, sometimes you don't. This time they did.

4. Miles Davis, Someday My Prince Will Come
Naturally, Miles is all over every Best Jazz Albums list, but this one of his never is. That's because it's from the "in between time" of the early 60s, bookended by the two Great Quintets. Which means the tenor chair is "merely" filled by the estimable Hank Mobley, instead of the legends John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter. But overlooking this is a mistake. I think it's his most listenable record, not least because Miles flubs fewer notes than usual.

5. Wayne Shorter, Native Dancer
This is a perfect record, in my view. What's interesting is that my opinion appears to be shared by half the jazz community, while the other half thinks it's an insubstantial exercise in 70s fusion. The fusion is with Brazilian music as conceived and performed by Milton Nascimento. Between the soaring melodies and Shorter's perfectly realized solos, I hear nothing that would take this down even one notch from the highest position.

6. Charles Mingus, Let My Children Hear Music
I checked to make sure I'm not misrepresenting this one, but, sure enough, it doesn't appear on any lists I looked at, not even lists confined to Mingus. In a way it's odd, since the man himself called it "the best album I have ever made." Instead of the mix of serenity and raggedness we usually get from Mingus's small to medium-sized groups, this one features rich orchestrations of his compositions by arrangers such as Sy Johnson. An awe-inspiring LP.

7. Charles Lloyd, Hyperion with Higgins
No jazz master of the last 30 years is as consistent as tenor man Lloyd, who is incapable of making a bad record. This might be because he is a person with explicitly spiritual motivations, and he won't tolerate any playing from his players that is aimless or superficial; on the other hand, maybe it's simply his fully- conscious presence that inspires them to get dialed in. All his records are great, but my favorites are two from 2000 and 2001, this one and The Water is Wide. Both feature the dream band of John Abercrombie, Brad Mehldau, Larry Grenadier, and drummer Higgins, all performing at their peak.

8. Steve Swallow, Home
I've written about this one before, explaining how it's the one jazz-plus-poetry recording that you needn't flee from. This is because Swallow hit on the genius idea of setting the minimalist poems of Robert Creeley to melody, with the result being that the poem occupies, say, only 30 seconds of a five minute song, with the rest of it filled with thrillingly interactive playing from the rest of the players, including drum master Bob Moses and the legendary Dave Liebman on sax. I've loved listening to this for 40 years now.

9. Bob Brookmeyer, Bob Brookmeyer & Friends
A sentimental favorite. In my father's small collection of albums was this gem. I loved it so much I took it with me when I left home. Consider this the quintessence of Cool Jazz. In addition to Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone, it features Stan Getz on sax, whose work is unparalleled, here, there, and everywhere. My dad had good taste. Check it out.

10. Bob Moses, When Elephants Dream of Music
Maybe this is the most challenging offering here. But I've been listening to this a lot over the last few months and it seems to me this is one of the best jazz albums ever. And I've listened to a lot of jazz. Moses is a drummer, but also someone who is a complete musician who can conceive of music on a big canvas. I find this to be adventurous as well as a perfect encapsulation of 70s jazz, which took all the innovations that came before and presented them as a unified whole.